ML617508977

Age and sex

Adult, Unknown sex - 1

Media notes

One of five continuing, adult Black Skimmers, initially found the previous day by Stephanie Little, here photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 16 April 2024 on the beach at the mouth of Pismo Creek, Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo County, California.

Observation details

I saw five continuing skimmers moving about the beach both north and south of the mouth of Pismo Creek, standing together on the beach in various places, but also flushed multiple times by beachgoers. I heard at least one bird giving distinctive, "eernh" calls, but these birds were generally quiet. All five birds appeared similar, so the description below represents a composite. These were relatively large, tern-like birds that were a bit smaller than nearby gulls, yet larger than Elegant Terns that were not too far away. These birds had unusually large bills on which the peg-like upper mandible was conspicuously shorter than a long, wedge-shaped lower mandible, but I did not compare the length of the bill relative to the width of the head. I thought the forehead was steep, but the crown was gently rounded to somewhat flattened, all on a head that was large for the size of the birds. I also thought these birds had stockier necks than those of the terns and their bodies were larger, full-chested, and with a posture that was barely more upright than horizontal. The wings were notably long and tapering to finely pointed tips that obscured the tail, but I was unable to discern the primary projection. The legs were short and relatively slim, but I failed to note the structure of the feet. The plumage patterns were quite simple and with the feather coloring limited to black and white. Ghe forehead and the front part of the face were white, as were the lower part of the face and the underparts from thd throat down across the breast, belly, sides, flanks, and undertail coverts. Contrasting sharply with the white regions of the plumage, the crown, nape, back and sides of the neck, and the back and upperwings appeared to be entirely black. The sides of the head were also black through the eye and across the auriculars. The closed wings appeared to be almost entirely black, but I did once see a narrow, white stripe that appeared to represent the white band along the trailing edge of the open wing. I saw the rump and tail only on the flying birds, when I noted a black stripe down the rump and a mostly black tail, both contrasting with white at the sides of the rump and tail. The bill was sharply bicolored, with the basal half of both mandibles a bright, scarlet-red and contrasting with black distally. The eyes were sufficiently dark as to appear black in the field and lacking contrast with the black plusage. The.legs were reddish in color, but duller than the base of the bill.

Technical information

Model

ILCE-7RM5

Lens

FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS

ISO

160

Focal length

600 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/2500 sec

Dimensions

5128 pixels x 3102 pixels

Original file size

17.77 MB